Although we make vegan meals every chance we get, we do not make it mandatory that all meals be vegan all the time. Take a simple salad for example. There are times when you say to yourself, “I would really like a hard-boiled egg on this thing.” That’s okay. Don’t deny yourself if it’s only once in a while! Otherwise, what’s the joy of living?

We consider ourselves flexitarians. That is, a flexible vegan who enjoys the occasional dairy or meat, but who eats vegan meals most of the time.

Flexitarians are Carnivorous Vegans

No, we are not contortionists. A flexitarian is a vegan or vegetarian who eats meat and/or dairy sometimes, but not often. It’s someone who is concerned with eating healthy, understands the benefits of cooking vegan meals at least 2/3 of the time, but allows him/herself to “cheat” every now and then.

One should enjoy life and all of its flavors – in moderation. However; if you are someone who has a hard time self-moderating, consider going all-in.

Making the transition from omnivore to vegan is not difficult as long as you allow yourself the freedom to explore and take it slow. If you are apprehensive about whether you will be able to become vegan, try just one meal per week at first. Don’t be too hard on yourself. We found the first week of going all-in to be rather depressing. Thus, the weekly “cheat day” was born. Now, on those nights when we find ourselves mesmerized by the Pizza Hut commercial, we can defer the craving until the weekend when that craving may, or may not arise once again.

Our own flexitarian diet has been working out great. Marc’s blood pressure is back to normal, and we hope to wean him off the meds and see how it goes once the new diet is the only thing keeping his levels down.